


Birthday Pie

by doop_doop



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Birthday, Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 11:03:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20865161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doop_doop/pseuds/doop_doop
Summary: The first thing to know about Felix: he does not like sweets. Not at all.





	Birthday Pie

**Author's Note:**

> This is dedicated to everyone who's ever given Felix the sweets and had him say "What a TERRIBLE gift" like I did :(
> 
> Written for Day 4 of FE Rarepair week for the prompt "Pie".

“Will you help me make Felix a pie?” 

“A pie? What is the occasion?” 

“It’s for his birthday! I was thinking…” 

The voices trailed off as their speakers got out of earshot. Felix, sitting unseen in a corner of the dining hall, frowned as he pondered what he’d overheard. He was fairly certain the speakers had been Ashe and Dedue, and he didn’t think he’d misheard their words - his birthday was, in fact, the next day. Had Ashe really said “pie”? 

What was he  _ thinking? _

_ This is terrible, _ Felix thought.  _ But… whatever. _

He was not emotionally prepared to receive a shitty gift from the person he least wanted to disappoint. He knew his face would give him away. Or, if not his face, then someone else would do it - someone who knew him better would undoubtedly blurt out something like, “Oh, darn, too bad Felix hates sweets!” Probably Sylvain.  _ Ugh…  _

Felix went to the training grounds and practiced his footwork until his knees shook. There  _ had _ to be a solution, if he only thought it through. If he pretended not to hate the pie, someone else would give him away. If he let Ashe down gently, the others would start to wonder why he was being so kind to Ashe in particular - he certainly didn’t treat anyone  _ else _ gently. 

But if he was his normal self, he would make Ashe sad - and that would be the worst of all.

He spent the rest of the day trying to think of solutions. He could complain about the dessert in the dining hall, loudly, within earshot of Ashe… Maybe he could get his hands on some candy and offer it to him, pretending he received it incidentally, and throw in a line about how he hated all sweet things? That might work, Felix mused - but the hour was getting late, and he couldn’t think of where he might get candy before the next day. Damn it,  _ damn it…  _

In the end, he did nothing. He slept like shit, though - tossing and turning, fuming, dreading the next day. Damn his birthday, and birthdays in general! If only no one celebrated them, he thought, this wouldn’t be happening. 

The next day, Ashe and Dedue zipped out of class as soon as it ended, and any chance Felix had of changing their plans flew out the window as he watched them go. He made his way morosely to the training grounds, but as he began his exercises he found his heart wasn’t in it. 

_ I shouldn’t underestimate Ashe, _ Felix thought.  _ I’m sure he’ll be able to take rejection… I’ll treat him normally. I’m sure it’s what he’d want. He doesn’t need to be babied. _

He felt eyes on him and paused, turning towards the entrance. It was the professor, holding flowers. “These are for you. Happy birthday.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Now he held a sword in one hand and a bouquet in the other. Utterly ridiculous.

“Ashe is looking for you. He’s in the dining hall.” 

Before he could even open his mouth to respond, the professor was already walking away. Felix sighed and sheathed his sword. It was time to quit putting off the inevitable. 

To his surprise, when he got there, Ashe was seated at a table alone. “Felix!” he said, smiling, and Felix’s heart sank with guilt. 

No, Felix knew there was no way he could be bluntly honest, not when it meant he’d be the cause of that smile disappearing. “Hello,” he said, nodding.

“Happy birthday!”

“Thanks.”

“I baked you a pie!” 

Felix sat down heavily next to Ashe, staring at it. Yep, it sure was a pie, all right.

Yet as he stared at it, he realized it smelled… good. Really good. “What kind of pie is this?”

Ashe smiled. “It’s a meat pie! Dedue helped me make it, so I bet it’ll be amazing. Don’t worry, it’s savory, not sweet!” 

“Ashe…” Felix wasn’t quite sure what face he was making, and turned away to hide it, just in case his expression was strange. He hadn’t been expecting this. He had been expecting an awful, too-sweet, sickly, sugary, fruity pie. To think that  _ savory pies  _ existed - the knowledge opened up a whole new world for him. And that Ashe had not forgotten this about him - that he’d spent time and effort making something like this for Felix’s sake - made him feel strangely emotional, almost raw. 

“Let’s eat!” Ashe said. “Do you want to slice it?”

“You go ahead.”

“Are you sure? I know how much you like cutting things…”

Felix looked back at him sharply. “With my  _ sword _ \- I would not use my sword on-” But Ashe was laughing. Felix stopped mid-sentence. “You were joking.”

“Oh, Felix,” Ashe said, “I’m sorry, it was too easy. Let me cut that. Do you mind if I have some? It’s your pie, of course, but I was thinking of inviting the others to try some, too, once you were done eating. If you don’t mind sharing the leftovers, that is.”

“Once I was done? Why didn’t you invite them all now?”

“Because I know you prefer dining in smaller groups,” Ashe said. “And it’s your birthday, so you should get what you want. Consider this part of your gift, too.”

Felix looked at him, and Ashe looked back, his gaze piercing and direct; and Felix wondered whether Ashe knew about the strange spot he had in his heart for him. Ashe had never expressed that he suspected, not even a little - but Ashe was clever, and Felix, well, Felix was sometimes very blind. 

“Here,” Ashe said, sliding a plate towards him. “Dig in. I hope it’s good!”

The pie was heavily spiced; that must have been Dedue’s hand. The whole thing was perfectly cooked - the crust thin, the meat plentiful. It practically melted in Felix’s mouth. “It’s delicious,” he said, and meant it wholeheartedly.

“Wow! Really?” Felix did not have to look over to know Ashe was beaming. “I’m so glad!” 

“This must have been a lot of work.”

“It was! I did the pastry crust myself, and the filling was about half me, half Dedue. It  _ was  _ a lot of work, but if it’s good then it was all worth it!”

“You could have just given me flowers, like the professor.”

“I mean, I  _ could _ have,” Ashe said. “But that wouldn’t have been nearly as good a present, would it?” 

“No.”

For a few minutes Felix and Ashe ate in silence. When his first piece was gone, Felix sliced himself a second, and ate that one too. 

“Seeing you enjoy the pie makes me happy,” Ashe said. 

Felix turned. There was a crumb at the corner of Ashe’s mouth; it was horribly distracting, and Felix longed to brush it away. “There are a lot of birthdays, you know,” he said. “You’re going to be spending quite a long time baking pies, aren’t you?”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ll be making pies for the others.”

“Whatever. Cakes then. Puddings? Cookies?”

Ashe shook his head. “No - I meant I’m not going to make any food for them at all. I’ll get them flowers, maybe - something simple like that.”

“Then why...” Felix tapped his fork against his plate. “Why this? Why me? Why… a meat pie, why all the fuss?” 

His heart was in his throat - and suddenly he realized why, exactly, he’d been so disappointed when he thought Ashe’s pie was a sweet one. 

_ I want to be special. _

The realization embarrassed him. What was he, a child? Clearly he was so desperate for validation he’d go digging for it, as he was doing now - asking leading questions, trying to get the answer he was longing for… Laughable. Pathetic.

Ashe smiled. “You deserve to have a good day,” he said. “Not that the others don’t! They do, of course they do. But… I feel like it’s it’s harder for you.”

Felix frowned. “It’s harder for me to have a good day?” 

“I don’t know,” Ashe said, looking down. “I just… I worry for you, you know? You seem to have all these problems I’m only scratching the surface of… But I know that I shouldn’t try and make you open up. I just wish I could  _ do _ something! I feel helpless.” 

_ Oh, _ Felix thought. That wasn’t quite what he’d expected. “Then it’s a sympathy pie.”

“No!” Ashe frowned deeply, and his voice was a little too loud. “No, it’s not sympathy, or pity, or scorn, and I’m not laughing at you. It’s… a friendship pie.”

“Friendship pie…”

“I want to be closer than you. Consider this my… peace offering?” 

“Peace offering? But you and I are hardly at war with each other.” 

“Okay, then, it’s my token of… my…” 

“Look,” Felix said, “don’t worry about it.”

“What?”

“Whatever unhappiness I have isn’t going to be changed by pie,” Felix said. “But it did help me for the time being. It was a very good pie.”

“No, Felix - ughh.” Ashe put his hands over his face. “I’m not so naive that I think a pie is going to make your problems disappear.”

“No?”

“No! It’s me trying to get you to open up, to reach out to me. To…” He swallowed audibly, then sighed. “To  _ like  _ me.”

“Ah.” Felix was stony on the outside, or at least he hoped he was; but on the inside, his heart was leaping. “Ashe?”

“Yeah?”

“I do like you. I like you very much.”

Ashe uncovered his face and met Felix’s eyes. He wasn’t crying, Felix was relieved to see. 

“I’m bad at opening up,” Felix went on. “You and some of the others, you can do it so easily… it’s a skill I lack. I have never felt it was an important one.” He closed his eyes. “But, because you asked, I will try my hardest to improve.”

“You - Felix-”

“I thought you knew already, honestly.”

“Knew what?”

“That I liked you.  _ Like _ you,” Felix said. “You are a good person. There aren’t many of those here.”

“That isn’t true!”

Felix laughed. “I think it is - but, regardless, you are among the best.”

Ashe was blushing. Felix was definitely going soft; since when did seeing that sort of expression make his stomach flip over? This - whatever he was feeling - was an entirely useless emotion. “I mean it,” he said. “And I greatly appreciate your gift. Ashe?”

“Yeah?”

Here was the hard part. His own peace offering, or whatever you might call it. “I know I’m not really an empathetic person. I’m not good at talking about feelings, not like you and some of the others. But I want you to know that if you ever need someone…” The words sounded false coming from his lips, and he tried only half-successfully to stop his tone from veering into the ironic. “If you ever need someone, you can come to me.”

Ashe’s face broke into a broad smile, and Felix felt himself relax. “I will,” Ashe said. “You may be prickly, but I know you’re a good person, too. That’s what I love about you!”

_ What he loves about me…  _ Felix’s heart twisted in his chest. “Ashe.” 

“What?”

“Choose your words more carefully.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“When you say it’s something you ‘love’ about it me, it almost sounds like you have feelings for me.” 

Felix was about to roll his eyes, hoping to really drive home the idea of how  _ ridiculous _ that would be, wouldn’t that just be a  _ riot  _ \- when he saw Ashe. 

Ashe’s face was flushed completely red, and his mouth had fallen open. 

_ Deny it, _ Felix thought, feeling suddenly nauseous.  _ Deny it. Deny it!  _

“F-Felix…” 

_ Deny it! Ashe, deny it!  _

Ashe did not deny it. He leapt to his feet and tried to bolt, but Felix caught his arm, stopping him in his tracks. Felix’s heart was hammering like he was in a battle. “Ashe. Wait.”

“Let me go. Please-”

“Ashe. Listen.”

Ashe was like a creature caught in a net, scrabbling and tugging to get free; Felix was stronger, but Ashe was going to attract attention if he tried any more desperately. 

Felix, trying his best to make his voice low and calming, said, “Ashe, please sit down. Just give me a minute. Let me-”

“Felix, let me go!”

“I was going to say, I would be  _ glad,” _ Felix said, speaking through gritted teeth. “Stop pulling away, you idiot, and listen to me. I would be glad if you had feelings for me.”

It took a second, but Felix could tell the exact moment the words sunk in. “What?”

“You heard me. I won’t say it again.” Now Felix was the one feeling trapped. All of a sudden he couldn’t meet Ashe’s eyes. “Come on, let’s go get the others. The pie’s getting cold.”

“Felix…” 

“Later,” Felix said. Ashe’s gaze was boring holes in him, but he didn’t dare look. “We’ll discuss it later.”

“Okay. ...Felix?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you.” 

“What are you thanking  _ me _ for? You’re the one who made the pie.” 

He could pretend to be dense, but Ashe knew, and Felix knew he knew. Felix couldn’t remember feeling this nervous, not in years. His pulse was fluttering, his hands so clammy the pie nearly slipped from his grasp as he lifted it. But, finally, when they were walking, he snuck a glance at Ashe; he was smiling. Felix felt hope stir then, too - nervousness and excitement both twisting his gut like living things.

_ And to imagine, _ Felix thought,  _ the pie was the cause of this.  _

It truly was the best pie he’d ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/doop_doop2)


End file.
